Chapter 18 (TROHP)
Review Responses: Snowflowx: Well, they aren't really in his class, Harry is in far more advanced classes. Anyway, by him killing those descendants of the Ancient Greek wizards who were worshiped as deities, while they were plotting against the Megalos family, he essentially framed the Megalos family, with the Megalos families approval. In short, the Megalos family brought about their own defeat and implicated themselves. When Harry killed them, and burned their and the Xanthopoulus's palaces, it looked like retaliation from the Athens School. His killing of the German Grindelwald supports barely even raised an eyebrow, they were basically the Death Eaters of continental Europe and everyone knew they were guilty. and even the government didn't care. A few people suspect Harry, of course, Professor White for instance, and even Highmaster Karkaroff is beginning to suspect and he began currying favor in chapter seventeen. I don't think there are any confrontations planned, this was all written months ago. Harry has become a skilled murderer and liar and is very secretive. Sneg Black: I'm glad you approve. Smutley Do-Wrong: He is a snob, and he has good reason to be. And she also announced the location of the platform. It's not implausible for Scourers to move to the UK by the way, and then it really could get bad. Harry is a child prodigy and genius, with basically Eidetic Memory on steroids, and limitless ambition. He wants to be the best and doesn't really care how. He's dark, so he's not gonna be a perfect saint. Harry rips knowledge from people he believes deserve it, and truly despises know-it-all's who are arrogant and question his genuine superiority. Hermione would steal from the powerful families in a crude, easy to stop way, and get broken. The laws protecting family magic are a limitless get out of jail free card; they can do ANYTHING to people who try stealing it. Harry doesn't always waste his kills, he tries to take full advantage and exploit them. He's an Apex Predator and efficient. He will grow by leaps and bounds, because he has that potential and the drive to reach it. keyblademeister88: He will find someone, I assure you of that. He just needs an equal or someone closer to that. Guest (Chapter 17): Thanks. June 6th, 1994. I had been home for five days, which I spent getting accustom to my newly grown power. I could now safely manage two transformations into my Ukrainian Ironbelly form. Those rituals grew my power a lot, and greatly reduced the burden of managing the power drain. It was still a viable training method though, at least for the summer anyway. I still had several properties I could improve the warding of too, and already had plans to improve Black Manor. I inspected it and learned that paranoia was a family trait; they had an absolutely massive wardstone that had a lot of free space left on it. It was larger than that of Durmstrang's and Hogwarts combined! Hell, Potter Manor's wardstone was only Hogwarts sized! That reminded me, I needed to get its wards to full strength. I had sneaked into Hogwarts a few days ago and set the wards to warn me if Peter Pettigrew entered them. I was glad I had kept the Marauders Map to myself, it would allow me to keep watch over my brother. "So, Harry, what are your plans this summer?" Sirius asked, with a smile. "I want to get the Manor's wards to full strength, once at full strength they would take an Archmage to break." Sirius looked impressed. "Yes, I'm willing to ward your home." "Is it true you tried blackmailing Dumbledore into letting you in the Triwizard Tournament?" Sirius asked, in amusement. "Yes, it is. He told my parents, and I exposed some of his dirty secrets and cost him his Supreme Mugwump position. I'm considering removing him from his other positions. Merlin knows we need someone who will actually use them for something worthwhile, other than brainwashing children into believing he's some great savior and Headmaster." I said, making my family laugh. I was quite pleased that they were firmly anti-Dumbledore now. "I have been chosen to represent Durmstrang as its Champion in the Dueling Tournament, and I look forward to dominating it. Karkaroff is probably still trying to get me as the sole champion of Durmstrang." "Why would he do that?" Dad asked suspiciously. "Because I'm the best student to ever attend," I said, as if it were obvious. "He thinks it will be fun to watch me defeat my former school, and show them exactly what they lost." "Just don't trust Karkaroff, he was a Death Eater." Sirius said, in near-paternal concern. "Oh, I don't trust him. This arrangement will just benefit me greatly." I said, to their shared interest. "I intend to win, and as a former Hogwarts student; I would be humiliating my former school. That, coupled with my soon to be exposed Masteries and general awesomeness will make me famous. It will show just how powerful and skilled I am, and make Hogwarts look bad for not recognizing it and failing to help me develop my skills there." The wards of Hogwarts warned me through my Lordship rings of Pettigrew's presence at Hogwarts. He had abducted my brother, Granger, and Ron Weasley for some strange reason. My parents looked concerned by my sudden change in behavior. "Get to Hogwarts! Pettigrew abducted James!" I said, causing panic and confusion. "I enchanted his ring to warn me when he was in danger." Mom and Dad quickly disapparated away, and I extracted the Marauders Map from my pocket. "The Marauders Map!" Sirius exclaimed. "Yes, he's outside the wards. You should go help, Sirius." He nodded, and disapparated away. I did the same. I just opted to disapparate right through the wards; as was my right as Lord Slytherin-Gryffindor by magical conquest. I arrived near the Whomping Willow, immobilized it with a spell, and went after them. I was glad that my enchantment of his ring was only a partial lie, it warned me when he was in danger, and allowed me to track him. It did have a range limit though, it only operated within Britain. I silenced and disillusioned myself. Minutes later, and I arrived at the room where I tracked Pettigrew and James. I used my ability to sense magic and observed that James, Granger, and Weasley were all bound and silenced. The rat was in his Animagus form and waiting behind the door. I conjured an illusion, opened the door and then sent it inside. Predictably, the idiot transformed and tried stunning the illusion, I stunned Pettigrew through a crack in the door. When I entered, I noticed Pettigrews stunner had hit Weasley, and laughed; I loved it when bad things happened to people who deserved it. I quickly removed the binds and silencing charms from James, and then Granger. I then bound and disarmed Pettigrew. "Well, that was easy. Why are you here with Weasley anyway?" "Hermione was still friends with him. I didn't spend time with him, though. Ron tried to betray us, but Pettigrew didn't trust him. Ron offered to help him, because he wanted to make my family suffer for rejecting his." James explained. I replaced the binds of Weasley and pocketed his wand. "Well, he'll be rotting in Azkaban. Attempting to harm nobility, and working with a Death Eater carries several horrific punishments." I noticed Hermione looked concerned for the worthless traitor. "We should get out of here, and turn these two over to the Aurors." I levitated Pettigrew and Weasley, and led them out. I spent the next few minutes guiding them back to Hogwarts, and improving the tunnel. I hated crawling, and refused to do so again; especially with witnesses to the humiliation. We finally exited the hole under the tree, I made sure I bumped my two prisoners a lot. James found it amusing, Hermione obviously disapproved, but didn't treat me to one of her annoying rants. When we exited, we saw Snape and Lupin coming towards us. It was nearing night fall by this time, and I was glad Lupin had access to Wolfsbane Potion. "Ah. Good. Pettigrew was caught." Snape said. "Yes, and Ron Weasley tried betraying my brother and Granger. He tried allying with an escaped criminal and Death Eater, commited treason, and attempted to harm nobility. So, life in Azkaban for him, basically." "The Headmaster will be most displeased." Snape replied, with sneer toward Weasley. "I don't give a damn what he thinks." I said, having had enough of Dumbledore's ineptitude. "If he interferes, he loses his position as Chief Warlock and Headmaster, and I can make that happen. I'll just owe several favors, but it will be worth it." The moonlight began to illuminate the ground. "Oh no! I forgot to take my potion!" Remus exclaimed, looking at the moonlight in realization. That damned idiot! "Get in the hole!" I said, pointing to the hole under the Whomping Willow. He began to move towards it, already beginning to change into his werewolf form. I eventually just lightly banished him closer to it, but it wasn't close enough, and the wolf began to take over as Remus changed further. I used my magic to move James, Granger, and the bound Weasley and Pettigrew behind Snape and I. We watched helplessly as Remus changed, and was overtaken by the beast within. "We need to force him to retreat, and go into the Forbidden Forest." I said to Snape, and knocked my brother and Granger back out of the way. "You two stay out of the way, but stay alert." "We can help!" Hermione said indignantly, in her annoyingly shrill voice. "No, you can't. You lack the magical power and skills to harm a werewolf. Now, both of you shut up." I said sternly, even snarling a little. Remus had finished his transformation, and focused on us. He looked at us predatorily, no doubt planning to attack already. I sent an over-powered Banishing Charm at him, knocking him ten feet back, and repeated the process. He tried charging us, but was hit with a concussion hex from Snape. I conjured a firewhip and hit Remus across the chest, and hit him with another Banishing Charm. Snape hit him with a bone fracturing curse, and Remus finally fled. And then we noticed the damn Dementors and their effects. "Well, I guess we can hand over Pettigrew to them." I said, before turning around to grab him. He was gone! The little bastard got loose and fled! "He's gone." I said, mere words not sufficient to describe my anger. My brother and Granger looked behind them, and seemed to realize how easily he could have killed them. We still had Weasley though, so he would be dealt with at least. "Pettigrew isn't here! Go about your business!" I ordered. They didn't move. "Leave, or be destroyed!" "They can't be destroyed, Harry." Granger said, snidely. She no doubt read that in a book and assumed it was an absolute fact. Stupidity like that was why she would never amount to anything, except for a useless bureaucrat who hoarded knewledge she would never be able to use out of pure greed and pettiness. "I'll enjoy proving you wrong then." I said, before aiming my wand at a grouping. Corpo Santo, I thought, calling forth a wave of holy green flames that almost instantly destroyed five Dementors, burning through them like they were made of paper. "Leave, Dementors!" I bellowed. Unfortunately, my actions seemed to have painted a target on myself. They all attacked, and I conjured a lot of holy fire and moved it around our group protectively, before blasting it outwardly and incinerating several dozen of the Dementors, and critically injuring several others. I formed some of the fire into a rather wide firewhip and cut through another dozen Dementors, causing them to fall onto the ground where they were quickly consumed by my fire. I quickly destroyed the surviving Dementors. "Still think they can't be destroyed, Granger?" I asked, with a mocking smile and succeeded in angering her. "Don't believe everything you read in a book, Granger. They were merely an incredibly weak type of demon created by a mad man named Ekrizdis. According to my research he studied demons and several other fields that were disgusting. I theorized that holy fire would effect them, but it was lost to time. So I just had to rediscover it." I said, still mocking her. "Now, let's get your worthless boyfriend Ron off to Azkaban!" I added with over-acted happiness, causing Snape to snort in amusement, and then give us a glare that promised pain if we mentioned the incident. We arrived at the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts and found my parents and Sirius, Dumbledore, McGonagall, as well as Minister Fudge and his Auror bodyguards. "What happened over there, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked coldly, no doubt believing I did something bad. "Lupin forgot his Wolfsbane Potion, Pettigrew escaped, and the rabid Dementors attacked us, and I destroyed them with holy fire. Oh, and, Weasley here tried betraying my brother and Granger. He tried joining Pettigrew, an escaped prisoner and Death Eater, and attempted to inflict harm on nobility. I'm sure my brother can provide a Pensieve memory for his trial. Granted, I haven't confirmed the information on Weasley, but that's easy to do." "Aurors! Take Weasley into custody!" Fudge ordered. "Cornelius, this is a Hogwarts matter and I am Headmaster." Dumbledore interjected. "Or is it?" I asked, before turning to my brother. "Did it happen in the Shrieking Shack, the tunnels or on Hogwarts grounds?" "Shrieking Shack," James replied without hesitation. "There you have it Dumbles. Problem solved. Aren't I helpful?" I asked, getting a glare from Dumbledore. "Anyway, a member of a noble family can request a student be tried before the Wizengamot when that student tried harming them or a member of their family. And I'm requesting it. And since the Weasley family are your vassals, I'm requesting you recuse yourself as Chief Warlock. You can't exactly be impartial after all." Fudge and my family nodded in agreement. Dumbledore had no option but to comply and he knew it. "I will recuse myself for the duration of Ronald's trial." He said, with a glare towards me. I was pleased with that, and it was obvious to Dumbledore. He merely gave me a disappointed look and walked away. June 27th, 1994. I had spent the last twenty-one days putting sixty percent of my power into one ward at a time, until they were at full strength, and then moving onto the next one. I made much greater progress that way, though the power growth was still the same. I had already gotten most of the wards to full strength, would start on the Black Manor wards soon, and considering they could contain much greater magic and support much stronger wards, I should have a reliable way to push myself further and gain much greater power. I was getting tired of the tedium of channeling my magic into wardstones though, and having to force myself to remember the benefits and how much I needed them. Ron was tried before the Wizengamot, and ended up having more charges brought against him. He admitted that he and his brothers attacked me, and claimed I merely wanted revenge. I went ahead and pressed charges against Ron, but not his brothers. He was sentenced to life in Azkaban for treason and assault of nobility. He vowed to escape and punish the entire Wizengamot and their families. They wanted to have him kissed for daring to threaten them, but were convinced otherwise, when I pointed out that he barely had any magical ability or knowledge. I had managed to finish reading the Potter family magic, and started looking through Salazar Slytherins personal library. I found several ancient and incredibly powerful arts, and had begun studying them. I wouldn't have the required power to master the arts, but I could study and master the basic and intermediate aspects of them. Studying them would grant me powers that could only be described as god-like. I was pleased that some of the arts were merely different skills labelled under one skill, like Occlumency and Legilimency. It allowed me to target only the knowledge that I wanted, though that was only my first priority, and I planned to eventually fully master those lost and likely forbidden arts. I was just practicing some the lesser abilities, deep in concentration and flying around the ceiling of my room; when suddenly a knock at my door shattered my concentration and caused me to fall onto the floor. I was briefly grateful for my immense pain tolerance and durability, and then rose from the floor to answer the door. I opened my door, to find my brother, waiting impatiently. "Yes, little bro?" I asked, in annoyance. "What were you doing?" He asked, suspecting he interrupted something important. "Training a skill that required immense concentration and willpower. What did you need?" I asked, impatiently. "I want you to teach me to create holy fire!" "No. The power drain would be too great at your level. It might even kill you." I said, to his anger. "When you get stronger, I'll teach you, but doing so now would likely kill you. It's harder to control than Fiendfyre, and much more draining. It is a form of transcendent fire, literal holy flames pulled from a holy place." He seemed more understanding, but still unhappy. "Just continue exercising your magic with Animagus transformations and the Patronus Charm." "I have been, but it started to become too easy! My power hasn't been growing any more!" James complained. "I'll check your power level then." I said, before drawing my wand. I quickly cast the spell. The information flowed into my mind... Power level: low-level Sorcerer. "You're a low-level Sorcerer, which is very impressive considering Grindelwald was one in his prime." I said, and he looked incredibly pleased with that. "If you want to improve your skills, maybe study Occlumency. Your ring replaces it, but it doesn't grant you the benefits of becoming skilled at the art. I'm sure our grandparents could teach you." James didn't look interested, so I continued. "You could also ask mom or dad to teach you to do magic non-verbally. With that, and Occlumency, or even just the ring you would have a great advantage." "I'll go ask then!" He said, before running back downstairs. I really needed to improve that spell that measured and labelled power levels. I suppose I may have influenced him into taking on a project with my own good habits. I had no less than four of them for this summer, and that was a lot of projects. Perhaps even too many, but I could always continue experimenting with Wandlore. I had made great progress with it, I had dissected and studied Gregorovitch's work and had altered it enough to be distinctively my work, and even suspected my own work was mastery level. I did make plans to study the work of other masters of Wandlore, though. I wanted to be skilled at it. Until I could study wandlore further, I still had plenty to do; including improving and modifying that spell. July 31st, 1994. Another month gone, and I had made great progress. Potter Manor's wards were finally at full strength, and I had begun my work on Black Manor's wards. Since it was left to me, and me alone, I prioritized it. I did need my own stronghold after all, and it would be among the most secure locations in the world when I was finished improving the wards. I was also very excited to have my own place to plot and scheme in safety. My progress in my training was going great, I had managed to master the second known form of flight and grew my power a decent amount. I had managed to improve the power measuring spell, and expanded its capabilities. A Mage had to grow their power four-fold to become an Archmage, my modifications divided the old singular Mage rank into three tiers, and the Archmage rank into seven. I was a tier two Mage. I was going to make two higher ranks after the Magus rank, but the titles Grand Magus and Archmagus seemed stupid and unimaginative. I'll admit, I had pretty much ripped off parts of older titles, and was quite displeased with myself for the shameful lack of creativity. I was currently at mine and my brother birthday party, due to the damaged relationship between Dumbledore and my family, there were far less people here. It was mostly my family, and the Tonks', Neville Longbottom's, and the Grangers. We had already opened our presents and were merely socializing at this point, though I was largely being ignored. I had so little in common with them after all, and it was only natural they would focus on people they were close too. I still found it greatly annoying, and was considering make more friends, just to have someone to talk too. People were just so damned annoying and untrustworthy though! "Harry!" Mom said, getting my attention. "What?" I asked, being shaken from my thoughts. "You weren't paying attention again," Mom said, with a smile. "We were all just invited to the Quidditch World Cup by Fudge, do you want to go?" "Of course! Bulgaria has Veela mascots!" I said, to moms disapproval and almost everyone else's amusement. "I thought you wanted me?" Nymphadora asked, in false hurt. "Of course I want you, but you rejected me and a dozen Veela should ease the pain of my broken heart." I replied, with genuine sadness, and caused her to chuckle. "You wish you could handle a dozen Veela," Nym taunted, in amusement. "Well, I'll try and if I fail; just look for a passed out and naked fourteen year old with an absurdly happy smile." I said, causing laughter all around. "That's my boy!" Dad called out in amusement. Mom head slapped him, causing more amusement. "I'll be keeping a close eye on you then, Harry." Mom said, sternly. "You can't be running around sleeping with random women," she added, before glaring at Sirius. I fought the strong urge to say: ew! gross! I had a feeling mom would not be amused by me twisting her words about her keeping watch over me. "I didn't give him the idea!" He said defensively. "Of course he didn't. Veela are known practitioners of Sex Magic and very few men can last more than three minutes; even without them using their magic. When I heard that, I knew I wanted to try." Dad, Sirius, James, Ted, Nym, and Neville looked impressed by my ambition. "I'm gonna have to put chastity spells on my sons." Mom said in annoyance, and caused James to pale. "Those only work on virgins," I added, unhelpfully and shocked the entire room. "What? I'm fourteen!" "Nice, Harry," Sirius whispered. "You beat your dad by three years." He said, causing me to raise an eyebrow. "He saved himself for your mom." I looked at dad in surprise. "What are you telling him Sirius?!" Dad asked, angrily. "That you saved yourself for Lily, hopefully him knowing that would cause him to try following your example somewhat." How was Sirius not sorted into Slytherin? That lie was definitely worthy of a Slytherin. Dad surprisingly believed him. "Okay, Harry, who did you have sex with? We need to send a letter to their parents." Mom said, angrily. "Two of them are dead, though. Their entire families were wiped out by victims of Grindelwald who wanted vengeance." "Damn, Harry. How many girls have you been with?" Sirius asked, in amusement. "Only seven." Sirius looked impressed, most of all Nym seemed to become more interested in me. That could have been in my head, of course, but I think I read the situation right. "And why would you need to inform their parents? I won't be marrying any of them, I chose them for that very reason and another reason, which I'll inform you both of later." I was very surprised when they didn't demand that I tell them now. Authors Note: Corpo Santo- was invented by Custer of the DarkLordPotter fansite. They are a great community with several resources, I keep meaning to join but haven't yet.